Will Hastings Battleaxe get political?

Oh, of course Battleaxe will get political, she wouldn't be a Battleaxe otherwise, would she? I don't think anyone could ignore what's been happening round here - we must be the laughing stock of the world. Philosopher says give up and stick to fluffy kittens, so here is Digby looking suitably fed up.

OK I'll be quick about it. Skip this if you are totally Brexited out. And everything might be different again in a week's time....
Battleaxe voted Remain. We should never have had this Referendum in the first place. The issues are far too big to play around with, or to be used as tools for securing party unity (yes, you Mr Cameron). Britain is a small cog in a huge global economy. Being part of Europe is our best chance of survival. The Leave campaign was based on a fantasy notion of 'Brave Little Britain' that is hopelessly out-dated, if it ever existed. It peddled lies and progaganda, tapping into the worst fears of the population, and was high-jacked by nasty, intolerant elements of society. Boris Johnson is a cunning, lying charlatan who used the Leave campaign to further his own ends. Don't get me started on the role of the mass media in whipping up fear and hatred. The Remain campaign was just feeble, and demonstrated how out of touch the Westminster elite are with the mood of the nation.
Battleaxe is sick and furious at the Referendum result. We have had our European citizenship stolen from us. The Leave vote is so wrong for the political, economic and social future of the country, and the result was too close to use as a basis for such massive constitutional change. Battleaxe is fed up with being told to shut up and stop whining by Leave supporters, who scarcely seem to have grasped the magnitude of what has happened....
Battleaxe is also sick at what is happening now. Prime Minister resigned (and rightly so). Boris? Boris likely to succeed.......... oh heaven preserve us. No politicians seem to have a clue about the way forward. Upsurge in racist incidents/hate speak..... The country is divided....
Battleaxe rejoined the Labour Party after the last election and voted for Corbyn as leader, mostly because she wanted to see the party shaken up. Well, she got her wish..... He was responsible for an ineffective, half-hearted Labour Remain campaign. He may have 'principles' but he is no leader, and now needs to go. The Labour Party has lost its traditional support in the North and Midlands as well as in Scotland - can it even survive?
And as for the football! Iceland? Battleaxe feels sorry for the English fans that keep on hoping, but really, those overpaid, posturing idiots... the complacency of the incompentent English manager....

Grrr - enough now. Ask oneself, what can I do? The government? Powerless. Labour Party? Have agonised, left and rejoined for far too long - had enough of that.
As local WI President, I can at least try and ensure that our group sticks to its values of inclusiveness, tolerance and helping others. There should be no politics in the WI, and I will do my best to keep it that way, while making it clear that yes, we are inclusive, and yes, we are tolerant.
Football - I do think I'd make a better England manager than Roy Hodgson, but I can't see me getting the job.
Phew, what else?
Trouble is, I can't enjoy much at the moment.
Stress and unhappiness always turn me towards compensatory spending. Philosopher has sensibly diverted me from a planned shopping trip to Tunbridge Wells, but even on a limited regime of Old Town, Bexhill, boot fairs and street markets, I have managed, since Friday morning, to accumulate the following:
- a dress from the Lilac Room (on sale)
- a Royal Doulton bowl (a present for someone else)
- a canvas bag (Hare and Hawthorn, Old Town)
- a jacket (Bexhill, on sale)
- a 1950s serving plate (boot fair)
- a pair of vintage lace shoes (boot fair, only £4 honestly)
- a cushion with a dachshund on (street market)
- an early Pears print (street market)
- a large shrub (unusual Olearia nummularifolia - street market).
Not bad, eh? If many others react like me, we could keep the flagging UK economy alive.

The street market, by the way, is a relatively new one in the yard off Roebuck Street in the Old Town. We went for the first time on Sunday, and it was very good indeed - lots of interesting stalls.

Street Market in the Old Town

Following that, we strolled across for lunch at the Nazar Turkish restaurant on the sea-front. Hadn't been before, and liked it. We have been to Ada, in Robertson Street many times. We like Turkish restaurants, and Turkish people - always go looking forward to practising our limited Turkish. Our efforts always amuse the staff rather than impressing them.....
The one really good thing this week - our bathroom is now done. It looks excellent, and both the new shower and the new bath are first class. Oh, that's another thing I've bought - expensive bath unguents for wallowing in the new tub. If anyone wants a recommendation for a plumber, contact me - the guy is fantastic.

New bathroom chez Battleaxe

New bathroom at Castello Battleaxe

To finish, a view of St Leonard's Gardens. We walked through there this morning on our way to a funeral. It was for Peter, from whom Philosopher has taken over as Chair of the local Workers' Education Association. His wife Liz is a writer/poet friend. It was a very moving service at St John's church in Brittany Road, but secular, well-chosen verse and music.

Most read posts this week

Yes, my actual blood pressure is rising. I had to go down to the doctor earlier in this week. 'Are you stressed about anything?' he enquired, after prescribing stronger medication. 'Well, yes,' I replied, 'Christmas, the Women's Institute, poetry, and the political situation.'
The above issues were made much worse by injuring my left wrist, which I also had to ask the doctor about. Heaven knows what I did - got up in the night to go to the loo, half asleep, felt something go pop in my wrist, and in the morning it was all swollen up and terribly painful. I could scarcely lift my hand let alone put a decoration up, wrap a parcel, cook, drive... or help at the WI meeting... I was also worried that I couldn't type properly, which for Battleaxe is a really big deal.

OK, my bad wrist didn't affect the political situation, but if Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees Mogg ever came to our front door, I wouldn't have been able to tip a bucket of poo o…

Well, you have to go once, don't you? We've never been to the Chelsea Flower Show, and thought we'd give it a try. Who knows, we may have become avid Chelsea addicts. We enjoyed our day, but fortunately for our bank balance, one visit is enough.
Weather-wise, we had the best day of the Chelsea week - warm, sunny but not too hot.
As usual, we'd been watching Chelsea on the telly - we do so every year. I'd been dreading the crowds. It always looks a seething mass of humanity on TV. Battleaxe doesn't do long queues or not being able to see things - but it was not too bad at all. You could move round fairly easily and get to see even the most popular show gardens. However, there was no time to stand and stare - no matter what the telly presenters say about being able to 'lose yourself in the tranquillity' of such and such, believe me, that was never going to happen.
We started off with a cup of coffee and a faintly stale Chelsea bun, and th…

We had a lovely few days. If anyone fancies Florence, my advice would be to go at this time of year. Yes, the weather is pretty much like the UK, so a bit risky, but it is much cheaper, far less crowded, the city is decorated with the most beautiful Christmas lights, and we even found a big Christmas market.
We stayed at the Hotel Degli Orafi, on the Arno river-front, next door to the Uffizi, about 50 metres from the Ponte Vecchio, and a few minutes walk to the other major sights, so it wouldn't have mattered too much even if it had poured with rain - but in fact, the weather was fine - some wintry sun, cold and dry until our last morning.
The hotel is where they filmed 'Room With A View'. We didn't have the actual Room, but we were upgraded to a larger double with a view of the Duomo and the Campanile across the rooftops. The hotel was excellent - it would have been far too expensive in high season but was plenty affordable in December. It was a rabbit-warren o…

Some time ago I did a post about antique/junk hunting in St Leonard's, which continues to be very popular. Have been meaning to do the same for our other browser's paradise, Hastings Old Town, for ages. It's a big job, and this is a long post. Battleaxe and Philosopher spend many happy hours rummaging, and we know many of the shops well. I've tried to avoid leaving any out, but as we will see below, it's all a bit 'evolving'.
I think the profile of the shops is changing - from reasonably priced piles of assorted stuff - to high-end shops with much less in them. Think a tastefully 'curated' (and I use that word advisedly) display of expensive items - often featuring mid-century modern chairs, old industrial steel cabinets, enamel signs and skeletons. I guess this reflects the on-going transformation of Hastings into a desirable destination for incomers, but it's a shame for old rummagers like us.
Let's start at the end of George Stree…

I see that Marks and Spencer has, yet again, posted poor results for the last quarter of 2014, particularly with clothing sales, blaming unsuitably mild weather, logistics problems and discounting by other retailers. This is now their fourteenth quarter in decline.
A Guardian review of comments by retail analysts speculates about every possible reason for the chain's failure except for the blindingly obvious.M & S women's clothes are REVOLTING. No-one with half a brain would want to pay money for most of the stuff.
There, what's so hard about saying that.
Why should Battleaxe care? I no longer shop there. But I used to, I'd like to again, commentators are already speculating about store closures, and locally, the survival of the Hastings Priory Meadow store is crucial for our retail economy.
As well as Priory Meadow, we have a big new store on the Ravenside retail park, which has the sea-view cafe referred to in previous posts. I have photogr…

Just back from 5 days in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. In my last post I
mentioned urgent need for sun. This was our attempt to get some. It was not
successful. Before Battleaxe starts slagging everything off, l’ll say that Philosopher and I do enjoy our holidays. It is always good
to explore somewhere new, and I thought Las Palmas would suit us as it is a proper city. As readers will know, I do love old
hotels. Anything described as ‘faded grandeur’ or a ‘grand old lady’ on
Tripadviser, I’ll go for it. So I spotted the Hotel Santa Catalina in
Las Palmas. Opened in 1889, Victorian Colonial style, the oldest in the
islands, stayed in by the usual globetrotting suspects - Winston
Churchill, Maria Callas, Ernest Hemingway and of course the King of
Spain. Despite being undeniably faded, it still rates as 5* and was
unfeasibly expensive, but hey, we were only there a few nights....

Why do we so often have bad weather luck on
holiday? We’ve shivered in Paris, frozen in Granada, …

A couple of days in Bristol, visiting Anna and Gareth - a general catch-up plus a visit to the new house they are buying. The highlight for me was visiting the SS Great Britain - I hadn't expected it to be much, but it was fabulous. Battleaxe recommends.
Currently, A & G are living in a rented house on the side of a hill in Clifton. A beautiful area - see previous post - but totally unaffordable. House prices in Bristol are rocketing, and they were lucky to secure a pretty little house on the other side of the river - an area called Windmill Hill. They have not moved in yet, but we had a good poke round.
On Monday, with Anna, we paid a brief visit to Clevedon - after a previous trip a few years ago - see previous post - Philosopher had commissioned a memorial plaque on the pier for his parents, so we went to have a look at it.
Then down to the Harbour and along to the Great Britain, sited in the dry dock where it was built in the 1840s. Battleaxe has actually…

You will have read in the last post that we had GD to stay? Well, one of our grand-parentoid tasks is to take her to the hairdresser - I chose the one in the Queen's Arcade, Hastings. While I was waiting, I was reflecting on the history of the place, and in particular, its link with John Logie Baird. So, first, why choose that hairdresser? Simple. I try and choose one as obscure and hidden as possible, so that if GD has a bad moment, we need never go back again... but in fact they cut her hair very well. John Logie Baird? Well, when you arrive in Hastings by road, the signs proclaim 'Hastings, Birthplace of Television'. Indeed, many of Baird's early experiments were carried out in his workshop at No. 8, Queen's Arcade - here is some information about it. Apparently, the first ever television picture - a tiny image of a maltese cross, transmitted over a range of two or three yards, was first seen here. You'd assume that as this was a big thing f…

Yesterday, I went to my first Silver Swans ballet class, for over-55 beginners. You may well ask, what on earth is going on? What is it all about? Have I ever done such a thing before, and most important, will I be able to do it?
The Silver Swans programme is an initiative from the Royal Academy of Dance to encoourage older people to take up ballet - it has all sorts of health benefits including maintaining/improving posture, balance, strength, mobility and cognitive functioning. I discover that the Silver Swans 'Ambassador' is Angela Rippon. Well, she may be 74 but she is thinner and fitter than I have ever been. Here is a piece about her ballet dancing. Still, Battleaxe has lsot a good deal of weight since the gall-bladder business a couple of years ago. Keeping it off is a problem....
Philosopher and I do Pilates every week - we have a lovely teacher, Eugenie, who comes to the house. She charges very reasonably and we get her undivided attention - no skulking at …

Aaah...shopping. One of Battleaxe's favourite occupations, and one of the joys of living round here, because we have so many independent shops. Clothes, shoes, junk and antiques, vintage and retro, art, bits and pieces - I love them all. Firstly, look at my Golden Rules for running successful small shops on Bombastic Battleaxe. I found it hard to rank the shops I chose to include, so I'll just start with the Old Town High Street, and then move along to St Leonard's. Not so many there, partly because I am leaving antique/junk places and galleries for a future exercise, but also, many shops come and go quickly. Could it be that they are not following the Golden Rules?

Made In Hastings - Old Town High Street
Run by, and showcases work from, a group of local artists and makers - I particularly like painter Claire Fletcher, and potter Judith Rowe. Shop is attractively laid out, interesting to browse in and always smells nice - lavender, I think. Staff are always welcoming - …

Welcome!Battleaxe moved from Birmingham to Hastings in November 2011, with her husband, the Philosopher. They now live overlooking the sea in the Clive Vale area of the town. Formerly a consultant working in social housing, she is now a part-time writer.